Automotive safety is an area of concern to legislators, auto makers, insurers, and consumers. Considerable attention has been appropriately directed to new and improved devices that help drivers avoid and survive accidents, such as all-wheel drive, anti-lock brakes, seatbelt pretension devices, side-curtain airbags, crumple zones and the like. Of course, each new component or feature often increases vehicle cost, sometimes significantly. While it is natural to focus on exciting new vehicle technologies, safety can also be enhanced in less glamorous and less costly ways, such as basic vehicle maintenance. One example of basic maintenance is proper inflation of the tires. Another example is maintaining clean windows.
As anyone who has driven a vehicle with very dirty windows will attest, what may have appeared to be a mere “nuisance” or irritation at the beginning of a drive, sometimes leads to harrowing circumstances and accidents. Even small spots on glass can have a severe adverse effect on driving conditions by causing a driver to focus in the near field (on the spot), rather than at a distance or infinity (away from the vehicle). For months at a time in northern climates, vehicles windows are splattered with salt, sand, and slush; and at other times of year and in other places, insects are smeared on the windshield. Either way, the result is mildly to severely obstructed vision with a concomitant decrease in safety.
Most cars and truck are equipped with integral window washing systems whereby washer fluid is sprayed onto a windshield while the windshield wipers are activated. Although this type of system is often effective for light grime, a significant area of the windshield is not reached by the windshield wipers. Even the most effective car windshield washer systems are incapable of entirely removing bug impact smears. Further, integrated window washers are almost always limited to the front windshield and occasionally the rear windows.
By contrast with an automobile's integral window washers, a squeegee with a scrubbing sponge and cleaning solution can remove almost any grime or bug and the squeegee can be used to quickly clean all the vehicle's windows. Drivers, however, do not typically carry squeegees with them on the road. Instead, squeegees are found at some gas stations where they are stored in an upright, open container that is hopefully filled with a cleaning solution.
Thus, other than at gas stations, which are typically only visited once or twice a week, squeegees are rarely seen. But in some of the above-described conditions, a driver could make use of a squeegee once or twice a day, or even more frequently. Although it would be desirable to have the benefits of a squeegee away from a gas station, there are certain difficulties that arise when away from the station. For example, because a squeegee is most effective when it includes a relatively long handle for cleaning large or difficult to reach window portions, the squeegee must be stored in a large enough container to house both the squeegee sponge and the elongated handle. If the container is used a reservoir for cleaning solution, it must be maintained upright, sealed, or filled and emptied upon use. A squeegee and cleaning solution container combination such as found in gas stations is clearly too bulky and cumbersome to be desirable for in-vehicle carriage. Thus, for a large number of drivers, it would be desirable and advantageous to have a compact squeegee with a leak resistant cleaning solution reservoir that is easily stored and transported in a vehicle.